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Duquette: "We want to be .500 or better this year"

DALLAS - Orioles executive vice president Dan Duquette has trade proposals and free-agent contract offers on the table, mostly for pitching, but he isn't expecting a deal to be completed tonight. If an agreement is reached, it's more likely to happen tomorrow.

Duquette confirmed that he met several times with the Chicago White Sox regarding their pitching, which means Gavin Floyd and John Danks. White Sox general manager Kenny Williams told reporters earlier today that he hadn't received any suitable offers from other clubs and was inclined to hold onto his pitchers, but he certainly reserves the right to change his mind.

The Minnesota Twins traded pitcher Kevin Slowey to the Colorado Rockies today, but not before Duquette met with them to discuss a possible deal and then backed off. The asking price was apparently too high for the Orioles.

Duquette sounded like he wasn't aware of reports that the Cardinals are willing to trade pitchers Jake Westbrook and Kyle Lohse. Or he was being coy.

Duquette said he had second meetings with "three or four" clubs. He's seeking pitchers and position players who can help the major league club right away.

Duquette wouldn't comment on White Sox outfielder Carlos Quentin, who's also available, but he said, "That's an interesting name." Feel free to read between the lines.

I'll pass along quotes from Duquette later, but I wanted to share this line:

"We want to be .500 or better this year. We want to build, but we definitely want to be over .500."